Create a PayPal Donation Button

When we think of making money with our blogs, methods like Google AdSense and WidgetBucks comes to mind. However, these free ad services are not the only ways to generate revenue. In fact they're far from the only ways, and this article will show you one of the different paths to earning money - PayPal donation.

PayPal is the leader in sending money and buying products online. For years people around the globe have been utilizing PayPal to purchase items from places like eBay and Amazon. But one of the great features that PayPal provides bloggers and site owners is the ability to create a donation button. And thanks to the good folks at PayPal - this process is easier than ever! We'll learn here that integrating PayPal on our Blogger blogs takes a matter of minutes and requires no HTML or programming knowledge.

Go ahead and log into your PayPal account now. If you don't have one yet, setup is a breeze. Just head over here to sign up and then come back when you're done.

Once you've logged in, click on the Merchant Services tab. This will be located in the top menu of your My Account Overview page.

Now that you're on the Merchant Services page, choose the option link that says “Donate”. You'll find this under the Create Buttons section.

When you click on the Donation option, PayPal will then direct you to the donation configuration screen. Here you can name your donation (I've simply added my name). A donation id, which is optional; the amount you would like to have donated (I recommend leaving this blank… let your donator decide that). Then select which style of button you like and click on Create Button Now near the bottom of the page.

PayPal generates the HTML/JavaScript for you. Go ahead and copy all the contents of your text box. When you're all set, head over to your Blogger account and login. Choose the Layout option from the dashboard and click Add a Page Element. To integrate our PayPal donation button, we'll need to add an HTML/JavaScript module.

Now simply paste the contents you got from PayPal into the HTML/JavaScript form, save your changes, and you're done! That was pretty painless, wasn't it?

Our blogs are really shaping up nicely to this point. We've integrated Google AdSense,WidgetBucks, and now we have our very own PayPal donation button!

Ebid Emerging As Serious Competitor To Ebay + No FEES EVER!!

Okay hands up who has had enough of ebay monopolising the online auction market? Wow! that's quite a few hands! The truth is ebay in the last few months has really started to show it's nasty side. Most sellers now are really struggling to make a profit with their fees having recently just gone up - again. Many small business relied on ebay to sell their wares to a mass market, but now ebay & paypal have stuck the knife in & the fees are just too high to sustain a business let alone a profit! Ebid however has noted all the changes at ebay & have changed their terms accordingly. With so many sellers now leaving ebay in search of newer pastures, Ebid has seen a huge surge in new registered customers & rightly so. For starters they have zero listing fees & zero final value fees. This is where ebay has failed is customers by steadily incresing these fees over the years. Now it has got to a point where the sheer size of the combined fees of listing, final value & paypal fees overshadow any profit. Payment processors that ebid use are: Google Checkout (highly recommended) PPPay, & Paypal (let's not go there -right?!) If you want to start making a profit agian & have no fees ever - FOR LIFE! - I would ditch ebay today for good & switch to the rapidly growing fee-free world of Ebid.

I was so impressed with this auction site that I have even enrolled myself & paid for the seller+ option (lifetime membership with NO FEES EVER!) My username on Ebid is edsthreads.

Alternatives To Paypal & Ebay + Paypal in The News

More than one in 10 Canadians who shop online have fallen victim to identity theft, with Ontarians hit the hardest, a survey released yesterday suggests.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of PayPal Canada, found that 12 per cent of all online shoppers polled in Ontario claimed they had been victims of identity theft. Albertans were second-hardest hit, with nine per cent reporting their identities stolen.

"People are doing more and more transactions online and that predisposes them to more chances of a fraudulent transaction happening," said Darrell MacMullin, country manager for PayPal Canada. "Fraud continues to evolve. Don't share information online that you don't want everyone to know."

Only eight per cent of respondents from British Columbia and Quebec were hit, while fewer than six per cent of respondents in Atlantic Canada reported having their identities stolen.

According to data from Phone Busters and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre, which is operated by the RCMP, Canadians have reported 8,048 cases of identity theft so far this year, totalling $7.3 million in losses.

In 2007, there were 9,971 cases of identity theft reported, totalling only $6.4 million in losses.

Globally, English-speaking countries have been hardest hit by identity theft, according to the study. Around 10 per cent of online shoppers in Canada, the United States and Britain reported having their identities stolen, compared to only five percent of respondents in France, Germany and Spain.